1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates generally to lasers and, more particularly, to a compact, solid state diode pumped laser.
2. Description of Related Art
In previous diode pumped laser designs, especially with rod geometries, a great effort was made to provide uniform diode pumping by locating up to five or more diode arrays around the laser rod, thus creating five-sided pumping. With diode pumping, the absorption is high as compared to flash lamp pumping, since the diode output is in a narrow wavelength range at the peak absorption of the lasing material (for Nd:YAG it is 808 nm); a nonuniform inverted energy distribution results in the laser rod. By distributing the diode arrays in multiple modules around the laser rod, improved uniformity of absorption energy throughout the laser rod is achieved.
Such diode pumped lasers require a complex laser head design of relatively large size in order to mount and cool the diode arrays. Furthermore, the distance from the center of the rod to the edge of the laser head is relatively large. The relatively large distance increases the size of the folded resonator since the folded beam must clear the edge of the laser head. For breadboard and commercial lasers, which are not limited in size, this relatively large folded resonator size does not present a problem. But for military systems, small size and weight is critical, and it is in this area that the subject invention provides the greatest benefit.